It is common for infants and toddlers to have difficulty during the transition from using baby bottles to consume liquid to using a conventional drinking cup. The resultant transitional and training phase often leads to the liquid in a cup being spilt. In general, sipper cups are used during a transitional phase to help train an infant to use a conventional drinking cup. Sipper cups utilise a lid with a spout or teat extending therefrom, through which an infant is able to consume a liquid at a controlled rate and with minimal spillages. However, the technique of drinking from a sipper cup is not analogous to drinking from a conventional cup and so such a device still does not train an infant to drink from a conventional open top cup. Therefore, there is a need to provide an additional transitional step between a sipper cup and a conventional cup.
Furthermore, children are also prone to try and impersonate adults in their behaviour and so there is a need to provide a drinking experience that is more analogous to that of drinking from a conventional open topped cup.
One known solution involves the use of a cup with a lid which incorporates a valve arrangement, which allows the flow of liquid therefrom when an infant is drinking from it, but prevents or limits spillage. However, such a known cup has a complicated mechanism and does not give the appearance of a conventional open-ended cup.